smithees



3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

J. P. SMITHERS.

TELEGRAPHIG RBPBATER.

Patented-Deo. 5.. 1882.

liz eqn-fr:

. N. PETERS, Phon NITED STATES yPATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPHP. SMITHERS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

TELEGRAPHIC REPEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 268,561, dated December 1882.

' Application led J une 2 8, 1882. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOSEPH P. SMITHERs, f ot' Brooklyn, Kings county, 'New York, have invented certain new and useful Im provemeuts in Telegraphic Repeaters, ofwhich the following is a specication.

My invention aims to provide a system ot` telegraphic repeaters which, while being ef- ICI claims.

cient,shall involvea simpler and less expensive apparatus than those employed heretofore.

My invention is in the main general character, but is in ment on Toys repeater.

Heretofore repeaters have been capable usually of repeating onto a single line only, whereas an important novel part of my invention enables the signals of one line to be repeated onto two or more lines.

lThe novel features constituting my invention will be elucidated inV the course of' the specification and distinctly formulated in the original in its part an improve- The annexed drawings represent my system diagrammatically in its different modificatlons.

A novel advantage ot" my invention is that` practically no additionV is made to the ordinary telegraph apparatus', but the results sought for are accomplished simply by the relative arrangement ot' the connections between the different parts of the usual telegraph apparatus.

Referring noW to Figs. 2 and 3, it may be noted that theordinary arrangement of therelay-magnets, main batteries, local magnets or Sounders, and local batteries are employed.

a c indicate one telegraph-line coming in from the east to the station which Figs. 2 or 3 is presumed to represent, and this line may hence be called the eastern line.

c indicates the second or Western line comshall be more readily un-` ing into the same station, which two lines are operatively coupled by my improved repeater, so that the signals of one are repeated onto the other.

c c indicate the relayma-gnets of the respective lines; d d', the main batteries; c e', the ground -connections; f f', the contacts worked by the relays; g g', the local magnets orsounders, and h lz' the local battery, which is in circuit, as usual, with the sounder'magnet and the relay-contacts, as illustrated.

It may now be noted that the local magnets or Sounders g g are provided with a doublearmed armature-lever, i i', similar to what is used in the rloy repeater, one arm being depressed by the attraction of the magnet and the 'otherarm being depressed by the retracting-spring shown, each arm being provided with a set ofcontact-points, 7c la. The contacts la, which close by the attracting movement of the armature, may be called the attracting contacts,77 and the contacts 7c', which close by the retracting movement, may be called the retracting-contacts.77 Now, the arms of the armature-lever, as may be observed, are of a springy or exible nature, so that when the lever is tilted in either direction the open contacts will always be closed before or at the same time that the closed contacts are opened.

New, referring to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the circuit of one ofthe telegraph-lines is` completed through the attracting-contacts'on the sounder ofthe other line. Thus the eastern line a passes through the attracting-contacts 7c of the sounder g of the western line, and vice versa. This description Will also apply in Fig. 3. By again referring to Fig. 2 it will be noted that the retracting-contacts 7c ou the eastern sounder g Will, when closed, form a short loop-circuit, l Z c c, .which Will include the eastern relay-magnet c and a small or sectional battery, m, sufficient to overcome the resistance of the loop and energize the relay sufficiently to keep its'contacts closed. same manner the retracting-contacts 7o on the western sounder g are in a similar loop-circuit,

l c', which involve the same corresponding parts on the Western line. l

The construction and arrangement of parts in Fig. 2 being now described, the operation is as follows: The apparatus is shown in its tures of the sounders attracted, and thus keep:V

ing the attracting-contacts 7c 7c closed. If, now, the operator at the distant station on the eastern line a. should break the circuit, the,

eastern relay c will of course become demagnetized, and its contacts f will open ,thus breakin g the circuit of thelocal battery l1l and sounder g, and thus demagnetizing the soundermagnet and causing its armature to become retracted and to respond to the signal on the main line. As the armature t' becomes retracted, however, it will first close the retract- :ing or loop contacts 7c', and immediately after open the attracting or line77 contacts k. The opening of the line-contacts 7c will of course break the circuit of the western line a', and thus repeat the signal of the eastern line onto the Western line; but the immediatelyprevious closing of the loop-contacts 7c will close the loop-circuit a l on the western relay c', and thus prevent the eastern or sending line from becoming itself broken at the contacts lc, which would of course occur if the western relay were allowed to become decircuited. Hence, although a break on the' sending-line is repeated on the receiving-line, yet the relay of the receiving-line is not decircuited, but is always thrown into a short closed loop-circuit just previous to the break of the receiving-line, so that the sending-line is always kept intact at the repeating-station; otherwise it would of course be impossible for the distant operator to again close the sending-line if once broken at the repeating-station. Now, on the other hand, when the operator at the distant station again closes the circuit the parts will again assume their normal positions (shown in Fig. 2) and the closing signal on the eastern line will be repeated on the western line, as will be readily understood. It will also be readily understood that the action of the parts would be the same,but in reverse order, if the signals should be sent on the western line and repeated on the eastern line, so that the reverse direction of the operation need not be described.

In the Toy repeater the whole of the main battery was used to form a short circuit to the ground to hold the local or sounder magnet of the repeating-line closed,and hence the changin gof the powerful current of the main battery from the lineintothe short circuit tothe ground necessitated the introduction of expensive rheostats or resistancecoils into the short circuit, so as to render the resistance ol'ered to the battery uniform when acting in theline or acting in the loop, in order to avoid injury to the instruments, which would result from the frequent breaking of a strong current in a short circuit of low resistance. Instead of this,it will he noted that I eifect a great improvement, in that I require no addition to the ordinary telegraph apparatus to produce my repeating system. and that I use a small sectional or supplementary battery, fm. m', in a short loop-circuit, before noted. This small battery may be provided by utilizing a section of the main battery, or by utilizing the ordinary local battery, or by employing a small independent battery. In Fig. 2, as before described, a section of the main battery, m or m', is included inthe loop,

while in Fig. 3 the loop-circuits are so disposed as to include the local batteries h h and the sounder-magnet directly, as shown. Fig. 3 is thus the same in construction and action as Fig. 2, except that the local battery is arranged to energize the loop instead of a section of the main battery, and this loop acts directly on the sounder-magnet instead of on the relay. Either of these modications may be used, as occasion suggests, and hence Fig. 3 requires no further description than that given for Fig. 2, as may be readily seen by tracing the connections.

It may now be noted that in the simple or single form of my invention, repeating simply from one line onto another or single line, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, no additional instruments or batteries are required other than what is now employed, except the provision of double contacts on the sounders. Hence I thus form a very simple and economical repeater, which is at the same time very certain and automatic in its action.

l will now turn to Fig. I, which shows the most elaborate form of my invention adapted for multiple repeatingthatis, the signals of one line may be repeated onto any desired number of lines; and for this multiple apparatus some slight additions to the usual telegraph apparatus are necessary. In this case, referring to Fig. 1, I have shown three lines, A B C, coming into the repeating-station. I will first remark that the middle line, B, is here represented as switched out of the repeating system, and hence only the outer lines, B and (l, are coupled, so that the signals of B will be repeated on C, or vice versa. Any one or other of the lines might, however, be switched out or coupled up, as might be desired. The parts of the middle line, B, are left unlettered in order to avoid confusion. 1n this multiple system it will be noted that each line is provided with two of the double-contact-making local instruments or Sounders G G', similar to what is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, whereas in Figs. 2 and 3 each line has but one of these instruments. Now, in Fig. l the main lines Aor B pass through the attracting-contacts of the first of these contact-making instruments, G, and its retracting contacts control theloopcircuit l C or l A around the relays c, same as in Figs. 2 and 3; bu t, unlike the latter, the magnet of this first instrument is not in circuit IOO IIO

,268,561 l Y I a with thelocal battery and relay-contacts. Now, the second instrument, G', has its magnet in the local-battery circuit, and hence this second instrument is the local sounder, which responds to the relay and to the signals of the sending-line. The second instrument, G', I

will therefore necessarily term the, local sounder,77 while the first instrument, G, I will term the repeating-sounder,7 as it repeats the signals of the sending-line onto the receiving-line, as will hereinafter appear. These two instruments G and G are, however, both arranged in relation to an additional local circuit, n n u, which I may call the intermediate77 or repeating7 circuit, which forms a characteristicfeature of this part of my invention. This intermediate circuit is energized by the batteries oo, which are preferably arrangedin sections along the circuit corresponding to the several lines A B O, as clearly illustrated, and it will also be noted that this intermediate circuit passes through the magnetof the repeating-Sounders G and through the attractingcontacts of the local Sounders G.

It will be also noted that if the re'tractingcontacts of the local Sounders G are closed they will close a loop-circuit, u o p, vin the intermediate circuit upon the magnets of the repeating-Sounders G, this loop being supplied by one of the sectional batteries o, as shown.

It will be further seen that the intermediate circuit is provided with shunt branches n around each of the sectional batterieso, and around the two contact-instruments G G of any one of the lines lA15 O, with switches rr arranged to complete the intermediate circuit 1 through its direct path or through the shunts.

Hence, if the switches are so set as to com-v in its quiescent condition, as shown in Fig. 1.

In this case the intermediate circuitis ofcourse closed, and the magnets of the repeating- Sounders G G are hence energized and are holding the line-contacts k A and k C closed. The circuit of the lines A C are of course also closed, and the currents thereof are4 hence iiowing through the line-contacts 7c k, thence through the relays c and the main batteries to the ground. lf, now, the line A is broken at a distant station, the relay thereof will break nthe circuit of its local sounder G', and the armature thereof, in retracting, will first close the contacts-lc', thus closing the sectional loop n o p of the intermediate circuit, n, upon the repeating-sounder G of the sending-line A, and therefore prevents this instrument G A from opening the sending-line, and immediately afterward tbe contacts lc of the instrument G will open, and thus break the intermediate circuit, a. As the intermediate circuit is thus broken `the magnet of therepeating-sounder G on the line C will be demagnetized,and its armature, in retracting, will open the .line-contacts la, and thus repeat the signal ofthe line A onto the line C. Just before the line-contacts k open, however, the loop-contacts lo close, thus keeping the relay c C magnetized, and consequently keeping the local sounder circuited, and thus preventing the intermediate circuit from being broken at a second pointthat is, at the contacts 7c of the local sounder Gof the line C-which .would occur if the loop C l were not at first closed. lf, now, the distant operator closes the line A, the several parts referred to will again assume theirclosed position, (shown in Fig. 1,).and the closing-signal on line A will thus be repeated on line B. It will therefore be seen that the signals of one sending-line might thus be repeated on any number of receiving-lines that might be coupled with the repeating'Y or intermediate circuitna, thus accomplishing an important improvement, which, as may t be seen, is effected with but comparatively simple additions to the ordinary telegraph apparatus;

It will be noted that the line B, which in Fig. l is switched out ot' the repeating system, may be operated individually for the transmission of messages direct to the distant station without interfering with the repeating action of the coupled lines A C. In Fig. 1, s s s iudi cate the keys for individually operating any one line when not coupled for repeating.

lt may be also noted, by referring to Fig. 1, that each of the repeating-Sounders G G is provided with a small mechanical latch or lock, t. which may be so turned as to lock the armaturesin their attracted positions, or so shifted as to release the armatures and permit them to play in obedience to the opening and closing of the intermediate circuit. Now, these catches should always be released ou the infor repeating, but should be invariably closed on the instrumentv of the line B, which is switched out, asfully shown in Fig. 1, for it will be readily seen by referriugvto Fig. l that the magnetofthe instrumentGin the switched outline B is cutout of the intermediate circuit, fn, and hence if the armature of the instru ment were not held down by the catch t its retraction would break the line B and close the loop-circuit with its relay.

1n Fig. 2, s s indicate the operating-keys for individually operating either of the two lines. When it is thus desired to operate either line separately the lines are uncoupled from the repeating system by the switches u, so as to break the loop-circuitsl a Z a and close the main lines a a in branches a around the contacts 7c k" ofthe sounders. The switches u u, as shown, are made in the form of a bisected tongue, so as to seat perfectly ou the two IOO IIO

`strument of the lines A C, which are coupled IIS IZO

be used to operate the sounders, for the lineintermediate circuit for a future application.

' in the combination, with two individual teleswitch-points through which the circuit is completed.

In Fig. 3 the two lines are uncoupled for separate use by opening the switches u u and closing the switches o, so as to break the loop-circuits and divert the main lines around the contacts ofthe sounders, as will be readily understood.

In the systems shown in Figs. 1 and 3 it is not necessary that the relay and local battery current may pass directly through the magnets ofthe sounders, if desired, thus operating them directly; but in most cases the relays and local circuits are necessary.

Any novel features which I may have shown but not claimed in this application I reserve for the subject of a future application, and I particularly reserve the broad claims on the What I claim is- 1. In arepeating telegraph system, the combination, With two or more telegraph-lines, of a double-contact-makin g electro-magnet having one set of contacts closed by attraction and the other set closed by retraction, and so arranged that the open contacts close before or when the closed contacts open, With the circuit ot' one line completed through the attractingcontacts of said magnet, and with the coil of said magnet circuited so as to respond to the opening and closing of a second line, together with a short loop-circuit including the retracted contacts of said'magnet, asmall or supplemental battery, and the coil of a second contact-making magnet having attracted contacts which control the closing of the second line, whereby the breakin-,gr of the sending-line at a distant station Will irst close the said loopcireuit, and thus prevent the seiiding-line from being itself broken at the repeating-station, but will at the same time break the receivingline, and thus repeat the message ot the sendingline thereon, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. A repeating telegraph system consisting graph-lines, each provided with relays and local sounders, of double contacts Worked by the sounders, 'and so arranged that one contact will close before or when the other opens, the circuit of one individual line being completed through the attracted contacts on the sounder ofthe other line, together with a short loopcircuit which includes a small or supplemental battery, the relay-magnet or its corresponding sounder-magnet, and the retracting-contacts of the sounder on the opposite line, substantially as herein set forth.

- 3. A multiple repeating telegraph system consisting in the combination, with two or more individual telegraph-lines, of an intermediate local or repeating circuit-suoli as 'n o-with which the several individual lines are related, and with a double-contact-making instrument, substantially such as G, having its magnet arranged in the said intermediate circuit and its attracted contacts in one of the individual lines, together with a second contact-making instrument, substantially such as G', having its magnet circuited to respond to the breaking and closing of .the individual line and its attracting-contacts arranged in the intermediate circuit, with a short loop-circuitsuch as n op-iucl uding the retracting-contacts ofthe said instrument and the magnet of the instrument G, substantially as herein shown and described.

4. In a multiple telegraph repeating system, the combination, with two or more individual lines, A B C, of the intermediate circuit, n n, and the contact-making instruments G G', ar ranged substantially as shown relatively to the individual lines and to the intermediate circuit, with the intermediateline-batteries, o o, sectionally arranged, the sectional loop-circuits n op, and the shunts n in the intermediate circuit around the battery-sections, and the switches r to control the opening and closing of the shunts, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

JOSEPH P. SMITHERS.

Witnesses:

JN0. E. GAvrN, CRAs. M. HrGGiNs. 

